The Siren (or Lack Thereof)

The Siren (or Lack Thereof) was Originally Posted on February 7, 2007 by lavarock

Again I have to mention how different it is here in Hawaii; especially on the Big Island.

On the mainland here are many cross streets and roads at angles and circles and o on. Here on my island we have some roads, which combine to kinda circles the main part of the island, and on occasion, there are roads that parallel them. You can circle the island but not necessarily have an alternate route.

Last night I was coming back home on the main road between North and South Kona and saw the flashing lights of an ambulance heading towards me. The lights were the only warning of the approach, as the siren was not going. This is common here because people pull over; unlike on the mainland in places I have visited. With the lack of alternate roadways and the great slope nearby, ambulance sirens would fill the air constantly and be projected towards the low-lying beaches.

I assume that because people pull over, they don’t use sirens unless absolutely necessary. It is only a guess on my part. I don’t want to bring it up and have someone realize that they *should* be using the sirens and start them up…

In a related development, I heard a siren today. Well, I thought it was a siren but they tested them the other day. Once a month they test the tsunami sirens, unless there is an actual tsunami watch, in which case they don’t do a test I’m sure this makes sense to someone…It turns out that what I heard was just a table saw a neighbor was using.

Hey, it *could* be worse. Once I thought I heard water flowing and it turned out to be a palm tree waving in the breeze!